College Essays Can Provide a Glimpse into Your Soul

While student grades and test scores are clearly top factors in admissions office decisions, application essays often play a pivotal role. Like nothing else, essays give admissions readers a proper sense for who you really are as a person and student. Some say they have been a “glimpse into the soul.”

Most colleges require at least one essay as a part of their applications; some require two, three or even more. Ranging in length from just a couple words to at least one, two, or three pages of content, essay questions in virtually any free-response section associated with the college application should be thought about a way to make a impression that is good.

At the National Association for College Admission Counseling’s (NACAC) yearly conference, college admissions deans have admitted repeatedly that poorly written essays can “do in” a student with top grades and test scores. and therefore essays that are great sometimes turn the tide toward acceptance for a student with less-than-stellar grades and test scores.

These same deans have offered sage advice about the dos and don’ts of writing college essays.

DO

1. Write revealing, concise essays that inform, enlighten and amuse.

2. Present yourself as genuinely humble, modest, perhaps even self-effacing.

3. Be yourself. Read more